Erroneous Paths of the Human Subject in René Girard’s Thought

Katarzyna Kremplewska

In his anthropology René Girard focuses on human collectivities. His main concern are – as the French thinker declares – human relations, which are subject to a deep crisis related to the cultural changes of late modernity. In his last major work, Battling to the End, Girard foretells an apocalyptic conclusion of the (failed) process of hominization. Meanwhile, the status of human individuality and autonomy in his thought is, to say the least, problematic. Th e essay puts under scrutiny Girard’s radical skepticism in this respect, as well as his sweeping critique of individualism, without losing sight of his insistence on Christian Revelation – as an anti-myth, disclosing the truth about victimary mechanisms – being the only possible source of the conversion of humans.

DOI: 10.37240/AHFiMS.2019.64.16

64-kremplewska

Keywords: subject · scapegoat · identity · autonomy · apocalypse · Rene Girard · modernity